The present application is directed to online electronic communication, and more particularly to implementations of electronic messaging in the form of chat sessions.
Online electronic messaging software has been developed which permits the setting up of chat rooms on chat-web servers, where client work stations are connected to chat-web servers via communication channels. During a chat session between two or more users, each user is able to send and receive text-based messages in realtime. However, it is considered that limiting communication between users to text-based messages limits the ability of chat room users to communicate as fully as possible. Others have noted this limitation, and have proposed concepts attempting to expand the communication experience in chat room environments.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,353,254 to Kusuda, entitled “Collaborative Chat System”, issued Apr. 1, 2008, discloses chat windows which are displayed directly over a web page of a browser window. Particularly, a chat window displaying section displays the chat windows at positions pointing to elements or items in a web page. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0116195, to Thompson et al., entitled “User Interface For Integrating Diverse Methods Of Communication”, published May 24, 2007, discloses a concept of an integrated communication interface for composing and sending messages. The interface is configurable to switch between different communication methods, e.g., electronic mail, instant messaging, SMS, chat, voice. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0239827 to Deboy et al., entitled “Global Chat System”, published Oct. 11, 2007, describes a system which allows users to send and receive messages among themselves while viewing a website. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0300169 to Jones et al., entitled “Method and System For Flagging Content In A Chat Session And Providing Enhancements In A Transcript Window”, published Dec. 27, 2007, describes a system which allows a user to set visible flags at the starting point of lines in a transcript region of the live chat window. The visual flags are displayed in a transcript region, visually indicating the lines that are associated therewith, and the live chat window is further modified to enable the user to navigate to the flags. U.S. Publication No. 2008/0034037 to Ciudad et al., entitled “Sharing Graphic User Interface Output In Chat Environment”, published Feb. 7, 2008, describes a GUI or application output which can be shared in a chat environment, where the user can choose to share content or request that content be shared by another user, where the shared content can be integrated in content that is transmitted as part of the chat session.
Other applications have discussed the concept of including a shared drawing window and a chat window, such as the product Vyew of Simulat, Inc. from Berkeley, Calif., which states it is a web conferencing tool with asynchronous collaboration capabilities.
GroupBoard is an online Java whiteboard and chat software, operated by Group Technologies of Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. GroupBoard in one embodiment is a set of multi-user Java applets, including whiteboard, chat, message board, games, invoice conferencing which can be placed on a web page. Also from Group Technologies is GroupBoardWorld.net, which is an advanced web meeting/conferencing software, allowing the user to set up web conferencing rooms with whiteboard, voice/video conferencing and desktop sharing.
iScribble is an online drawing site where people geographically distant can work on a drawing at the same time. An interactive canvas allows users to draw pictures using a mouse or graphic tablet. Another system and process is known as ConcertChat, provided by Fraunhofer-Ipsi of Darmstadt, Germany. This is a text-based communication which provides the sharing of material. The ConcertChat technology promotes itself as allowing all chat users to have a shared view of arbitrary documents, web pages and screen shots, and a shared whiteboard support for joint sketching. All contributions are said to be archived, which allows asynchronous discussion, searching in the discourse, and post-processing of meetings.
Thus, while online chat systems are ubiquitous, there are many improvements which can be made to provide a more robust and full communication between users.